Committee flags Young Developers as underperforming; Fairfield closeout nearly complete

Speaker 1 called the committee to order and the meeting opened with routine approvals. A central item in the committee’s discussion was contractor performance: Speaker 6 said Young Developers is "a very low performing sub" and that the town has been exchanging formal notices with the contractor and its bonding company.

Why it matters: committee members said the remaining work at Fairfield is minimal — Speaker 6 estimated Fairfield is "99.9% done" and only a couple days of punch-list work remain — but they expressed concern about Young Developers’ overall reliability on other jobs. Speaker 6 said the town is retaining more contract funds than the work left is worth to protect itself from failing performance.

Details of the exchange: Speaker 6 outlined two options: terminate Young Developers and hire another contractor to finish outstanding items with potential back-charges, or wait for weather to improve and let Young finish the minor items, then settle. "I can terminate them, get somebody else, and stiff them without back charges, which I'm happy to do," Speaker 6 said, adding that missing materials have short lead times and any small shortages would likely be back-charged to Young.

Speaker 3 and others urged patience given the weather and the limited remaining scope: "What I would do is I would wait until the weather breaks," Speaker 3 said. The committee did not direct an immediate termination; members agreed to continue holding contractual retainage and to monitor progress, with updates expected at the next meeting.

Next steps: committee members said they will continue correspondence with Young Developers and its bonding company and will report further status at a future meeting. No formal motion to terminate the subcontractor was made at this session.